published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

<font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The popularization and health benefits associated with the &ldquo / Mediterranean diet&rdquo / saw a world wide increase in the production and consumption of processed olives and olive oil. During the brining of table olives large quantities of processed olive waste water is seasonally generated. This blackish-brown, malodours liquid is rich in organic and phenolic compounds, which cause environmental problems upon discarding. Currently, processed wastewater is discarded into large evaporation ponds where it poses serious environmental risks. The biodegradation of organic substrates present in the olive wastewater is inhibited by the high concentrations of phenolic compounds. <font face="Times New Roman">In order to identify organisms which could potentially be used in the bioremediation of olive wastewater, 36 microbial strains were isolated from evaporation ponds in the Boland region of South Africa. Twenty five isolates were capable of growth on 50% olive wastewater and their bioremediation potential as well as their ability to produce valuable intermediate compounds were subsequently characterized. Based on the RPHPLC results, which showed that a number of chemical intermediates were produced in fermentation of olive wastewater, isolate AS-35 was selected for further analysis. Strain AS-35, identified as a </font><font face="Times New Roman"><em>Bacillus megaterium,</em> </font><font face="Times New Roman">was significantly influenced by the exposure to olive waste. The total cellular protein profile, generation time and cellular morphology of this isolate were dramatically affected by the introduction of olive waste. <font face="Times New Roman">This study investigated the differential gene display of </font><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><em>Bacillus megaterium</em></font> </font><font face="Times New Roman">following exposure to olive wastewater. Proteomic and transcriptomic differences of the organism cultured in nutrient rich LB and olive wastewater were compared. These results indicated that AS-35 expressed genes involved in glycolysis, tryptophan and nucleotide synthesis as well as the chaperones GroEL and DnaK during its growth in LB. In contrast, genes induced following the abolishment of glucose dependent catabolite repression, genes involved in biotin synthesis and &szlig / -oxidation of fatty or organic acids as well as a gene whose expression is regulated by stress induced s</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="1">B</font><font face="Times New Roman">-dependent regulon were expressed during olive waste growth.</font></font></p> </font></font>

Theoretical waste minimisation opportunities and options for electroplating were sought from the literature. Their suitability under the specific site conditions of a chromium electroplating plant were evaluated using the results of a waste minimisation audit (audit). The audit showed that many waste minimisation practices were already in place. These included counter current flowing rinse systems, multiple use of rinses and recycling of the drag-out solution back into the plating solution. Two types of information were collected during the audit, namely new chemical monitoring (concentration levels of sodium, iron, zinc, copper, lead, chromium and nickel and conductivity, total dissolved solids and pH) and flow rate data and existing data (composition of the process solutions, products and waste outputs, and raw materials, workpieces and utility inputs). The data were analysed using four established waste minimisation techniques. The Scoping Audit and the Water Economy Assessment results were determined using empirically derived models while the Mass Balancing and the True Cost of Waste results were obtained through more detailed calculations. The results of the audit showed that the three most important areas for waste minimisation were water usage, effluent from rinse water waste streams and nickel consumption. Water usage has the highest waste minimisation potential followed by nickel. Dragged-out process chemicals and rinse water consumption contribute to ranking the effluent stream the most important waste minimisation opportunity identified by the True Cost of Waste Analysis. Potential financial savings were roughly estimated to be in the order of R 19949 and R 126603 for water and nickel respectively. Intervention using only "low cost-no-cost" waste minimisation measures was recommended as a first step before contemplating further focus areas or technical or economical feasibility. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

A chromium plating line used by a local company was monitored to identify any potential waste minimisation opportunities. Plating of the workpiece surface is carried out by immersing the workpiece in seven process (treatment) solutions including nickel and chromium plating baths. Between each process step the workpieces are rinsed. The chromium plating process was evaluated using the results of a waste minimisation audit. This involved gathering data on the composition, flow rates and costs of the inputs of the process. Two types of data were collected namely new and existing data. The new data included chemical monitoring (concentration levels of Ni, Cr, Na, S, B, P, Si, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb as well as conductivity, TDS, SS and pH measurements) and water usage data. The existing data included raw materials, utility inputs, composition of process solutions and product outputs. The data were analysed using three established waste minimisation techniques. The Water Economy Assessment (a form of Monitoring and Targeting) results were determined using an empirically derived model. The Water Balance and True Cost of Waste results were obtained through more detailed calculations using the results of the chemical analysis. The results from the audit showed that the water usage on the chromium plating line has the highest waste minimisation potential. The True Cost of Waste analysis showed there is no significant chemical wastage in the effluent stream. The potential savings of the effluent stream was negligible (approximately R10 for 238 days). Drag-out calculations were also performed and showed that the drag-out volumes were in good agreement with the typical volumes found in the metal finishing industry. Intervention using simple lowcost and no-cost waste minimisation opportunities were recommended as a first step before contemplating further focus areas for technical or feasibility studies. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Pinch Analysis, in the broadest sense, is concerned with the optimal use of resources (material or energy) in a multi-process system. Pinch Analysis based techniques have emerged for water systems over the past decade. A major assumption that has been made in applying these techniques is that a process system can be segregated into a set of process streams and a set of water streams. With this distinction in place, only the water streams are considered in the Pinch Analysis with the process streams represented implicitly. This approach has obvious limitations in situations where a clear distinction between process streams and water streams cannot be made. The chlor-alkali process is an example of a system in which the clear distinction between process streams and water streams cannot be made. Water is intrinsically involved in the process, serving as a carrier medium for raw materials and eventually becoming part of the products produced by the complex. Hydrochloric acid and caustic soda are reagents which are both used within and produced by the complex. These reagents are required by the process at a range of concentrations and the concentrated reagent is diluted to the required concentrations using demineralised water. Within the chlor-alkali complex, a number of effluents containing the reagent species are available and are typically sent to drain. It is conceivable that these effluents might be recovered and used for dilution purposes instead of demineralised water. This would bring about a reduction in the amount of water and concentrated reagent used and the amount of effluent produced by the complex. Given the economic value of these reagents relative to water, their recovery, if feasible, is likely to dominate the optimal water-use and effluent generation strategy. Current Water Pinch Analysis theory relies on the distinction being made between process streams and water streams and does not consider the recovery of reagents or the presence of desirable species within the system. In addition, the assumption is made that species are non-reactive; reactive species such as hydrogen chloride and sodium hydroxide, fall outside the scope of the current theory. The objectives of this study have included the development of an approach which is able to address these limitations of the existing theory. This approach, termed Combined Water and Materials Pinch Analysis seeks to identify optimal use strategies for raw materials and reagents, in addition to water-use and effluent generation. The approach combines mathematical programming with conceptual insights from Water Pinch Analysis. The approach is based on the optimisation of a superstructure which represents the set of all possible flow configurations for water, reagents and raw materials between the various operations within the process system; this problem is solved as a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem using standard optimisation tools. The application of the developed approach to the Sasol Polymers chlor-alkali complex at Umbogintwini, south of Durban, has been a further objective of this study. Given the variety of process operations present within the complex, which differ both in terms of their physical structure and function, individual process models for these operations were required. These models were described in terms of four basic functional elements, namely, mixing, flow separation, component separation and reaction, and incorporated into the superstructure. Given the complexity of the problem, the process system was divided into three subsystems which were optimised in isolation from each other. These results were subsequently integrated to reflect the performance of the subsystems in combination with each other. The results showed a potential reduction of 14% in water-use and 42% in effluent production by the complex, relative to the existing operating configuration. Amongst other savings in material use, the results indicated a 0.2% reduction in the use of salt, a 1.6% reduction caustic soda use and an 8.3% reduction in the use of hydrochloric acid. Economically, the potential saving identified was R 945 727 per annum, based on operating costs in the year 2000. The final objective of this study was the interpretation of the pinch as it relates to the Combined Water and Materials Pinch Analysis problem. A general definition of the pinch was proposed; according to this definition, the pinch corresponds to that constraint or set of constraints which limits the performance of the system, that is, prevents it from further improvement. For the Combined Water and Materials Pinch Analysis problem, this performance is measured in terms of the operating cost. This definition is thus a departure from its usual thermodynamic interpretation of the pinch; in addition, the pinch is defined in terms of a constraint or a set of constraints instead of a point. These constraints are identified by an analysis of the marginal values provided by the optimisation algorithm. Marginal values are also used as a means of identifying process interventions which may be effected such that the performance of the system may be improved further. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, 1989.

Submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Biotechnology, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005. / The cumulative effects of pollution have led to increased public concern, which is resulting in strict legislation on the discharge of wastes in whatever state they are present, i.e. solid, liquid or gas. Currently, in South Africa, effluents with a high organic load are sent to landfills or marine outfall because the cost of discharge to sewer is prohibitive. In regions where there is a net surplus of rainfall, landfill sites have the potential to pollute the groundwater due to saturated soil conditions. Therefore, many landfill sites should not receive liquid effluents. If liquid wastes are disposed onto landfills, then an alternate sink is required for the treatment of the high volumes of leachate that are generated. These concentrated effluents could then be treated by biological, chemical or physical methods to reduce the pollution load in the natural water resources. In this study, anaerobic digestion has been identified as one of the biological processes that can be applied to treat high-strength or toxic organic liquid effluents, since a survey conducted by Sacks (1997) indicated that many anaerobic digesters in the KwaZulu-Natal region have spare capacity. However before high strength industrial wastes can be treated in existing anaerobic digesters, their impact on the digestion process, i.e. their toxicity and biodegradability under anaerobic conditions, needs to be determined. During this project, several high-strength or toxic industrial effluents were tested to assess their toxicity and biodegradability under anaerobic conditions. These include three synthetic textile size effluents from the textile industry (Textile effluent 1, 2, and 3) and three hazardous landfillieachates (Holfontein, Shongweni and Aloes). In addition, the components of a textile effluent, i.e., starch and wax, were tested to determine which / M

Orientador: Alcides Lopes Leão / Banca: Iraê Amaral Guerrini / Banca: Fernando Carvalho Oliveira / Resumo: As áreas plantadas com florestas de espécies do gênero Eucalyptus estão em franca ascendência no Brasil, o que resulta na necessidade de grande quantidade de insumos para manter os elevados índices produtivos. Devido à elevação dos preços de alguns produtos agrícolas, a utilização de recursos alternativos para fornecer aporte à produção florestal no país é de grande interesse do setor. Como exemplos citam-se os Estados Unidos, Holanda e outros países que utilizam resíduos orgânicos industriais e urbanos para o fornecimento de nutrientes à agricultura e silvicultura. Uma alternativa em potencial para o Brasil são os resíduos gerados por indústrias de curtimento de peles, visto que o país é um dos maiores produtores de couros do mundo e gera grandes quantidades de resíduos. Com isso, é dado um destino economicamente e ambientalmente mais correto aos resíduos, além de gerar economia de insumos no setor florestal. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar o desenvolvimento de um híbrido de Eucalyptus urophylla com Eucalyptus grandis submetidos às diferentes doses de lodo compostado e lodo de caleiro, ambos provenientes da indústria de curtimento de couro. Para isso foi realizado um experimento em vasos dentro de uma estufa plástica no Departamento de Recursos Naturais - Ciências Ambientais da Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas de Botucatu, e foram avaliados o diâmetro e altura das plantas, massa seca de raiz, caule e folhas, teor de clorofila, além do teor de nutrientes no solo e nas folhas. A utilização de doses crescentes de ambos os resíduos resultou na melhoria dos parâmetros biométricos das características físico químicas do solo, no fornecimento de nutrientes ao solo e maior acúmulo de nutrientes nas folhas. As doses de 20 e 30 Mg ha-1 do resíduo de caleiro foram as que proporcionaram melhores condições às plantas e ao solo / Abstract: The area of Eucalyptus forest used for commercial purposes is rising in Brazil, resultings in the use of large amounts of inputs to mainten higher productivity. Due to rising fertilizer prices, the use of alternatives resources is important to provide options for forest farmers and to reduce costs. The United States, Netherlands and other countries have used industrial and urban wastes in agriculture and forestry as a supply of nutrients. In Brazil, the wastes of tannery industry are a potential alternative. The country is one of the biggest tanner producers in the world, and this sector generates large quantites of waste. Forest fertilization is both an economically and environmentally superior use of this waste, and it lowers the costs of forest production. Therefore, the objective of this work is to evaluate the development of a Eucalyptus hybrid (E. Grandis x E. Urophylla) with the use of tannery wastes to provide nutrients. The experiment was carried out in vases inside the greenhouse of the Department of Natural Resources - Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Botucatu, Brazil. The parameters checked ware height and diameter of plants; dry mass of roots, stem and leafs; and chlorophyll content and nutrient content of the soil and leaves. The use of increasing doses of both residues resulted in the rise of biometric parameters, improved soil physicochemical characteristics, the supply of nutrients to soil and nutrient content in leaves. Thetreatments of 20 and 30 Mg ha-1 of liming residue resulted in the best conditions for plants growth and soil fertility / Mestre

Orientador: José Eduardo Corá / Banca: Edson Luiz Mendes Coutinho / Banca: Carolina Fernandes / Banca: Adolfo Valente Marcelo / Banca: Anice Garcia / Resumo: A queima do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar para a geração de energia, apesar da vantagem econômica, gera significativo volume de cinzas. Para solucionar o descarte de forma mais rápida desse material, o uso de altas doses das cinzas em área agrícolas próximas às unidades industriais pode ser uma adequada solução, caso não provoquem efeitos depressivos no ambiente. Portanto, a disposição de cinzas no solo deve respeitar critérios técnicos estabelecidos com base no conhecimento dos efeitos causados pelo uso das cinzas nos solos e nas plantas. Estudos que avaliem esses efeitos é o ponto de partida para a regulamentação pelos órgãos ambientais do uso das cinzas, entretanto são escassos os estudos nesse sentido. O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar o efeito da aplicação em cobertura e incorporada de cinza de bagaço de cana-de-açúcar (CBC) nos atributos químicos do solo, na produtividade da cana-de-açúcar e nos atributos tecnológicos. O experimento foi conduzido em duas modalidades distintas: cinza aplicada na linha da cultura em cana soca; e, cinza incorporada ao solo. O delineamento foi em blocos casualizados, com 5 tratamentos (doses de CBC de 0, 5, 10, 20 e 40 Mg ha-1) e quatro repetições. Em duas safras, avaliou-se produtividade da cultura, atributos tecnológicos, atributos físicos do solo e atributos químicos. A aplicação em cobertura da CBC elevou os teores de potássio, saturação por bases e reduziu a acidez. Para a aplicação e incorporação o efeito ficou restrito à elevação dos teores de K no primeiro ano e redução da acidez potencial. Produtividade e os atributos tecnológicos não foram afetados / Abstract: The burning of sugarcane bagasse for energy generation, despite the economic advantage, generates significant volume of ash. To solve the disposal faster this material, the use of high doses of ashes in the nearly industrial units agricultural area may be an appropriate solution if you do not cause depressive effects on the environment. Therefore, the disposal of ash in the soil must comply with technical criteria based on knowledge of the effects caused by the use of ashes in soils and plants. Studies assessing these effects are the starting point for the regulation by environmental agencies use the ashes, however there are few studies in this direction. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of sugarcane bagasse ash (CBC) on soil chemical properties, yield of sugarcane and technological attributes. The experiment was conducted in two distinct modes: ash applied sidedressed in line with the culture and ash incorporated into the soil. The design was a randomized block design with 5 treatments (rates of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 Mg ha-1) and four replications. In two seasons, we evaluated sugarcane productivity, technological attributes, soil physical and chemical attributes. The application coverage of CBC increased the contents of potassium, base saturation and reduced acidity. For applying and incorporating the effect was restricted to elevated levels of K in the first year and reduced potential acidity. Productivity and technological attributes were not affected / Doutor

Abstract not available